Thought for Wednesday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time (St. Gregory the Great)

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now, for you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man? Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men?

What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

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Today’s letter from Paul to the Corinthians could have been written to us today. He is concerned that they are so focused on the things of this world (“you are still of the flesh”). He wants to talk to them about spiritual things, about Jesus, about salvation, about the true meaning of life, but they are not ready for it.

There is “jealousy and rivalry” among the early Christians of Corinth. They are not able to bond together in unity for a single purpose. They fight among each other giving a poor witness to the world for Christians.

Instead of being true followers of Jesus, they argue about who they are following. Some of the Corinthians were following Apollos or Paul, the men who brought them the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul was trying to keep them focused on Jesus and not on the messenger.

What can we learn from St. Paul today?

Am I living according to the flesh or the Spirit? Am I focused purely on the things of the world? Do I worry more about the stock market than I do about the injustices happening in our world to the unborn, the elderly, the poor and the marginalized? Pope Francis, in Joy of the Gospel, remarks that it doesn’t make the news if a homeless man dies of hunger. Yet when the stock market drops two points it makes the news.

Like the Corinthians, we sometimes place our faith and trust in a priest or preacher because of their charisma or powerful way of speaking. Sometimes we can lose sight of Jesus because we are so attached to the one who is preaching. Now, I understand that it is nice to receive the message from a dynamic speaker. But do we begin to place our faith and trust in them rather than in Jesus?

The difficult part of placing our faith in trust in another human being is that they will eventually let you down. We expect our priests to be perfect and super-human, but we are human beings. Some people leave the Church when a priest does or says something wrong. I am not excusing the sins of priests, but reminding us that Jesus is the one we are following and the Church is what Jesus gave us to touch our lives with the Sacraments. Jesus calls and uses sinful human beings to continue His mission on earth. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, our faith will not be rocked or shattered, no matter what His messengers do, no matter how far some of them have fallen.

Have a blessed day! Fr. Burke

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